House passes defence bill despite Trump’s veto threats

Congress escalated its latest showdown with Donald Trump when the House essentially dared him to veto a sweeping military policy bill by passing the measure in defiance of the president’s repeated threats to block the legislation over legal protections for social media companies.

The chamber approved the measure with a veto-proof majority, 335-78-1 (one Democrat voted present), on Tuesday evening without tacking on language he is demanding be added to strip away legal protections for social media giants like Twitter, Facebook and others. Mr Trump contends those “big tech” firms are “censoring” his and other conservatives’ views – even contending they helped Joe Biden defeat him in last month’s presidential election. (That is enough ‘yay’ votes to override any possible veto.)

Paradoxically, the bill codifies and expands on Mr Trump’s plans to buy new combat equipment. He campaigned for a second term, in part, on having “rebuilt our military.” A veto also would block a 3 per cent pay raise for military troops.